


Smitten With You

by RogueSapphic



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Practice dating, this is what happens when jc doesnt give me a rowan option
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 02:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19736314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueSapphic/pseuds/RogueSapphic
Summary: Shiri Sibylline has dating on the mind and she’s got just the girl in mind to ask. However it all goes wrong when Rowan Khanna says she isn’t dating anymore. So with her friends at her back, she plans a practice date with Penny Haywood, but that doesn’t go to plan at all.aka JC didn’t give me Rowan as an option for the date quest so I had to write my own.





	Smitten With You

**Author's Note:**

> * chismes del día = ‘gossip of the day’ in spanish. shiri’s mexican and i write these rewrites with the canon dialogue, so i decided to switch the french (’gossip du jour’) to something more fitting and would actually be said by shiri.

Spacing out isn’t something new for Shiri. Gilded eyes stare and her wand’s poised in her hand as if prepped for a spell, but she’s lost in her thoughts. She thinks of long dark hair and deep brown eyes behind glasses and the slope of a familiar nose and jaw. There’s a movement that catches her eye and she’s shaken back to reality. She realises she’s almost alone in the courtyard. And that she’s going to be late for potions class. Cursing under her breath, she grabs her books, tucks her wand away, and shoots off towards Snape’s class.

She makes it barely in the nick of time, but the class is already in motion, her classmates crowd around in front of Snape. She dumps her books on the table and slips in beside Rowan.

“You’re late, Shiri, are you alright?” Rowan asks quietly, leaning slightly towards her.

“Yeah, I was just date drea- I mean, _daydreaming!_ ” she replies. Snape clears his throat and the pair quickly fall quiet under his gaze.

“Now that I’ve got everyone’s attention,” Snape begins to rattle on about today’s class. Shiri’s thoughts drift away. She hears bits and pieces, something about doxies in the Slytherin Common Room, Merula’s voice cuts in, _‘the last thing I need is a doxy bite!’_ , then everyone’s looking at Shiri.

“Sibylline, an ingredient for doxycide?” Snape asks.

“Oh - uh - dragon liver?” she fumbles.

“Correct. Perhaps you are not a complete waste of time. Now, you are all to brew doxycide potion from memory. No notes.”

Shiri sighs, silently thanking all those study lessons she’d had with Penny over the years. At least she had Merula and Rowan on either side of her to peek on if she got stuck. She crushes and grinds the bundimun and the streelers, into her cauldron went dragon liver, hemlock and cowbane essence, and then the tormentil tincture.

Finally finished, she sets her cauldron aside. She twirls a quill in her hand and her gaze flicks to Rowan. Straightening her shoulders, she flips open a small scrap of paper and starts writing. That caught Rowan’s attention and she leans over to quietly hiss at Shiri.

“What are you doing? Snape said no notes.” There was a tone of panic in her voice.

“I’m not using any class notes. I’ve already finished my doxycide potion,” she replies with a small motion to the cauldron bubbling. As she continues writing, she feels a looming figure at her side and, looking up, she was met with Snape’s scowling face.

“I said no notes, Sibylline! Shouldn’t the whole class have the same advantages as you, shall we share your notes on doxycide potion?” he snaps, snatching up her note. Despite herself, she made a swipe for it, panic contorting her face. Snape held it out of reach.

“Wait, Professor! I wasn’t cheating, it’s not class notes!” she pleads.

“‘Do you like me? Yes or no?’” Snape read. The class fell silent, then the students burst into fits of laughter. Shiri’s face grows red. Snape’s frown deepens and he dropped the note back on the table. “Class dismissed. Clean your stations and leave.” With that, he stalks away.

“Sibylline’s got a crush, has she? That’s brilliant!” Merula cackles, smirking across at Shiri. The Hufflepuff forces a laugh.

“Have to admit, hearing Snape read that, even I have to laugh.”

That makes Merula frown: “Well if you’re laughing that’s no fun for me.”

As she and Rowan were putting the leftover ingredients away, the taller glances at Shiri. A frown was printed on Rowan’s face and she brushes her hand against Shiri’s wrist.

“Are you okay?” she asks softly. Shiri just shrugs.

“At least it’s over now.”

“Is it though? Gossip tends to spread like fiendfyre...” Rowan trails off, noting the grimace on Shiri’s face.

“Let’s not think about it. We’ve got flying class now right?” Shiri put a jar of dragon liver on the shelf. “Maybe everyone will have already forgotten about it.”

As they approach the training grounds, students were chattering among themselves. Hooch was still preparing to begin the class. As they got closer, Ben hurries towards them.

“Everyone’s talking about what happened in Snape’s class. Your secret crush isn’t so secret anymore,” he said. Shiri’s shoulders droop with a sigh.

“Merula works fast, doesn’t she?”

Ben continues: “It’s not just her. Rumour is there was a whole spectacle with Snape and a note and —“

“Yes we were there,” Rowan cut in snappily, seemingly resisting the urge to elbow Ben in the side. He didn’t seem to catch on that she was warning him to shut up about it.

“Do you think he meant to embarrass you like that?”

“I think it was an accident. I was writing a note when he said ‘no notes’. Guess he had reason to believe I was cheating.”

“Well it’s certainly got everyone‘s attention.”

“I thought you handled it brilliantly, Shiri, just laughing it off, you even caught Merula off guard,” Rowan offers, trying to lift Shiri’s mood.

“Can we just stop talking about it?” she sighs, shoulders still droopy.

“This is why I stopped dating, there’s too much stress,” Rowan states. It was like a cannonball to Shiri’s chest, head jerking up to stare in wide-eyed panic at the other Hufflepuff.

“Stopped dating? When did you start?” Ben asks, confused.

“Well, I went to the Celestial Ball with Shiri. That counts!”

Shiri didn’t hear the rest of their conversation, too busy focusing on the fact that, apparently, Rowan wasn’t interested in dating. She was starting to wonder if this would be another Celestial Ball problem, whether there’d be another argument between them if Shiri dared to ask her on a date.

“If I were scoring you on your ability to chatter, you three would get top marks,” comes a familiar voice. Madam Hooch stands across from them, hands poised on her hips.

“Is there any chance you are scoring us on our ability to chatter?” Rowan asks hopefully.

“No, Miss Khanna. Today we will be practicing loop-the-loops. Now hurry along, get your feet off the ground and your heads in the clouds.” With that, Madam Hooch claps her hands, motioning the class towards the prepared brooms.

Shiri had never liked flying class all that much, but today she wishes it wouldn’t end. Flying high and away from her classmates, she could escape the embarrassment of people talking about her and her crush. However, class soon came to the end and Shiri comes to land back down on earth.

Walking off, flanked by Rowan and Ben, she huffs.

“Class was over too quickly. Up in the air, no one was whispering about me,” she complains.

“They might have been but you wouldn’t have been able to hear it,” Rowan replies and Shiri laughs.

“Yeah, that’s the point, not hearing them.”

“How do you feel about being the talk of Hogwarts?”

“I don’t like the attention. It’s bad enough when it comes to curse breaking and Jacob, but this is so much worse.” She shakes her head, “I don’t know if I did too many loop-the-loops or if it’s from talking about this, but my stomach’s flip-flopping.”

“Maybe you’re just hungry, let’s go to lunch,” Ben offers.

“I can’t, I’ve got a study date.”

“Study date?” Rowan questions.

“Group! _Study group_ , I mean. I - I’ve gotta go meet Tulip, Andre and Barnaby in the library. I’ll see you guys later, okay?”

And with that, Shiri hurries off towards the library.

The library is quiet, as usual. Madam Pince would have it no other way. Shiri hurries inside, books under her arms, hoping that maybe here she could escape all the talk about her crush. However, as she saw the faces of her friends, she realised it wouldn’t be so easy. She drops into a seat beside Tulip and put her books on the table. Tulip shuffles, shifting to face her.

“We heard about Snape’s class. Are you okay?” Tulip questions.

“Was it mortifying?” Andre asks.

“Do Romanian Longhorns have two horns or one?” Barnaby quizzes. Shiri blinks, trying to focus.

“They’ve got two ... right?” she replies, choosing to focus there instead of on Tulip and Andre’s questions.

“Why are you asking about Romanian Longhorns, mate?” Andre asks, brows furrowing in confusion.

“We’re having a study group, aren’t we?” Barnaby replies.

“That’s what I thought too,” Shiri said. Tulip laughs slightly, then reaches over to pet her shoulder.

“We are. But we agreed to talk about real life first. It’s far more interesting than counting dragon horns.”

“I was here for that agreement. Potions class, Snape reading my note, I’d rather just forget all about it. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“We don’t want to talk about that eithe —“

“Shhh!” Madam Pince hissed from her desk. Tulip grimaces slightly, but lowers her voice to a whisper.

“We don’t want to talk about that. —“

“Brilliant, then let’s —“ Shiri starts but was cut off by Andre.

“We want to talk about who your note was for.”

“Shh! Shhhh!” Pince hisses again. Shiri rolls her eyes.

“If we’re going to stay in the library, we have to at least pretend to study.” Flipping open the book closest on her, she settles on a page about hippogriffs. “I’m surprised you’re all so interested in my social life. Aren’t there enough things around Hogwarts to entertain you?”

“You’re more popular than you think, Shiri,” Andre says.

“You don’t have to tell us until this all blows over if you’d like? Like if you’re, oh I don’t know, planning your next move?” Tulip asks, obviously trying to get something out of her. Shiri’s nose crinkles in confusion.

“Next ... move? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Your ‘next move’ will be out of my library,” an ever-so-familiar voice but in.

“Madam Pince?”

“I’ve been watching your ‘study group’. Students like yourselves loudly loitering and pretending to study. Gather your books and take your idle chatter elsewhere.”

As Madam Pince walks off and the group started to pack up their books, Andre speaks up again.

“Where shall we take our ‘idle chatter’?”

“Somewhere far from gossip, I think.” She shakes her head, her stomach was still flipping over itself. “I think, perhaps, I’ll go have some lunch.”

She finds herself sitting in the quiet, empty courtyard. Her legs were crossed at the ankles and she was munching on a sandwich. A shadow falls over her and she glances up to a familiar face.

“Outdoor dining, huh?” Talbott asks.

“Hey,” she said, putting her sandwich down on the plate beside her, “What are you doing out here?”

“It’s where I come when I want to eat alone. You’re on my turf.”

Shiri gets to her feet with a small frown, picking up her plate: “I’m sorry, I - I didn’t realise.” Talbot raises a hand to stop her, a small smile coming to his face.

“It’s fine, it’s not my property. And besides, we’re friends now remember?” His smile widens a bit with a small laugh, “Your face just now, when you though I was cross at you for being in ‘my courtyard’.” He laughs again.

“Are you laughing at me, Talbott? I’ve had quite enough of that happening today.” A pause and a small smile. “Though it is nice to see you laughing. A rare thing, I presume?”

“I laugh. With friends.” He motions for her to sit again and took a seat beside her on the fountain edge. Shiri sat, putting her plate on her lap. “What are you doing out here? Since you asked me.”

The smile slips from her face: “Hiding.” she trails off for a moment, then turns to him, her lunch forgotten, “How do you do it? How do you ... stay out of the fray?”

“I’m not really an advice guy...”

“I don’t want advice, I want to know some of your hiding spaces. I might need to borrow some.”

“Well that I can do,” He replies with a smile.

Talbott starts listing places off while sharing the chips of Shiri’s plate; the artefact room and the owlery were some of his favourites. Albeit, he explained, that the owlery was rather dusty and feathery, and that the artefact room was a well-known hiding spot. Finally, he tilts his head at her.

“Well I’ve told you some of the places I hide, now, tell me, what exactly are you hiding from?” he asks. Shiri picked at the crust of her sandwich, mouth twisting.

“I couldn’t handle all the stares in the dining hall. I’m the ‘chismes del día’ or haven’t you heard?”

“I’ve heard.”

“I’m getting a lot of attention about this whole ‘mystery crush’. It’s overwhelming and, I know they mean well, but all my friends have so many questions that I don’t know how to answer.”

“I won’t ask you questions. And I’m your friend.”

A smile grows across Shiri’s face and she knocks her shoulder lightly into his, “Thank you, Talbott.”

He gets up then, straightening his tie. Her brow creases in confusion.

“Where are you going?”

“This may be ‘my turf’, but for now it’s your hiding spot.” That said, he shifts into an eagle and takes off, leaving Shiri alone again. However, she’s not alone for long as a buch of students start to come into the courtyard. With a small sigh, she gathers up her plate and heads off to the artefact rooms, hoping to still get some privacy. At least for a little while.

Her hopes are quickly dashed. She isn’t sitting on the floor of the artefact room for more than ten minutes before Penny comes strolling in, hands on her hips.

“Here you are. I’m glad I found you,” Penny says, coming to sit across from her. Shiri says nothing, just looking at her. “Talbott said you were having lunch alone in the courtyard but when I got out there you were already gone.”

“What good is Talbott letting me use his hiding spaces if he’s just going to tell people where I am?” Shiri asks.

“I think he might have been concerned about you. He’s more sensitive than he lets on. But you knew that already, you’re close with Talbott too.”

Shiri jolts in surprise. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”

Penny's eyes shift to the plate between them. “Are you ... having a second lunch?”

“No. Same lunch. I’ve had no appetite.”

Penny scratches her chin, “Then I guess asking your crush on a lunch date is out of the question.”

Shiri’s brows crease: “What are you talking about?”

“A date. I heard about your ... incident with Snape this morning and I figured, why don’t you make the best of it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you were already making a note asking your crush if they liked you, so why not ask your crush out on a date? It could be fun for both of you.”

Shiri pauses a moment, then remembers what Rowan had said earlier that day and takes a deep breath. “I ... don’t know about that, Penny.”

Penny hums quietly, then reaches to grab Shiri’s hand, “Well just consider it, okay? I think it’d be good for you to get out of hiding at least.”

Shiri squeezes her hand back, “Well, out of hiding seems ... necessary at least. But a date? I’ve never been on a real date. The Celestial Ball, that was a school event and we were all there. I wouldn’t know the first thing about going on a real date.” She shakes her head, “And besides, what if my crush says no?”

“But what if they say yes?”

“I guess I’ll think about it.”

“Brilliant. Now let’s get you out of this musty room and into some fresh air. Courtyard?”

“That sounds great but if I’m actually going to consider this whole ‘date’ thing, I think I need to go see someone else.”

Bill Weasley. The rock of their friend group and the person who last helped Shiri when it came to relationships. He’d helped her when it came to asking Rowan to come to the Celestial Ball, and now Shiri was turning to him to help her again.

“Thanks for meeting me, Bill,” Shiri said, smiling, at least a little happier now after chatting with Penny. The joyful tone of the Three Broomsticks certainly helped as well.

“Well I always enjoy our chats,” he replies. “What were you wanting to talk to me about?”

Shiri pauses, shifting a little, nervousness setting in again. “Well, I don’t know if you’ve heard about my not-so-secret-anymore crush yet,” she pauses to huff a short laugh, “In fact, the only part that still secret is that I haven’t told anyone who my crush is.”

“You have every right to keep that to yourself.”

“Except I’m thinking I might not keep it to myself. I think I might ... ask my crush out. On a date.”

“That sounds like a fine idea ... but where do I come into this?”

“Well, you were a great help when it came to me asking a date to the Celestial Ball. And you gave Rowan a real confidence boost. I was hoping you might give me some dating advice.”

“Me?”

“Yes you.”

Bill laughs incredulously: “Oh well of course, when people think dating advice they think ‘Bill Weasley’. You remember the Emily Tyler debacle right?”

“You still asked her out at least. Even if it didn’t end well. You deserve better anyway.”

Bill stops laugh as he notes the expression on her face and the tone of her voice.

“Oh. You’re serious, Shiri.”

“I am.”

“You’ve certainly caught me off guard. Really, I kind of can’t believe we’re going to be having this conversation. I suppose as the oldest I should expect this...” He trails off a moment, then snaps back to reality. “Anyway, what do you most want to know about dating?”

“What’s the best way to ask out my crush?”

“I would recommend a note. It could end up in the wrong hands.” There was a tone of teasing in his voice and she rolls her eyes.

“Yes, yes, I know that now.”

“The best way, I think, is face-to-face. It may be the most nerve-wracking way but involving anyone or anything else can complicate things.”

“Well it worked out for me with the Celestial Ball.” A smile crosses her face at the memory. Asking Rowan that night, and how happy and excited they’d both been. “But you’ve got to have more advice, right?”

“Well, I suppose you should prepare to have fun, and start with a compliment - everyone likes compliments - and do more listening than talking. Oh, and don’t overthink things too much, spending time with someone you like should be fun.”

Shiri nodded along, locking the advice away in her head.

“Is there anything else,” she asks as Bill finally finished up.

“Well, even if you follow all my advice, there’s still a chance that things could go wrong.”

Shiri frowns at that: “Way to end of a comforting note, Bill.”

“Well, it happens, but it’s just a part of dating, but I do think everything will go fine for you.” A lightbulb seems to go off in his head and he snaps his fingers, “If you’re still nervous, why don’t you plan you date before you ask your crush? It’ll take the pressure off having to plan it after they say yes.”

“That’s an interesting idea, Bill.”

“My brother having an interesting idea? How rare, do tell.” Charlie says as he came to stand at the side of Bill and Shiri’s table. Tonks leans on the back of Shiri’s chair, laughing along with Charlie.

“What luck that today you decided to get a sense of humour, Charlie,” Bill said with a roll of his eyes.

“What? I’m funny sometimes.”

It Shiri’s turn to laugh now. Charlie shakes his head, looking between Bill and Charlie.

“Well, what’s this ‘interesting plan’?”

“I’m thinking of inviting my crush out on a date. Bill thought it might be a good idea to plan my date beforehand.”

“Exactly! Prepare for success!” Bill said.

“We heard about Snape’s ‘dramatic reading’ of your note in potions class,” Tonks said.

“So your note didn’t make it to your crush then, Shiri?” Charlie asks. Shiri shook her head.

“Well if I’m planning a date, how about Hogsmeade? It’d be a good place for a date,” Shiri considers.

“All of Hogsmeade?” Tonks questions, “I think you might need to narrow it down.”

“Looks like we’ve arrived just in time, Tonks.”

Shiri looks at Charlie, confused: “What do you mean?”

“We’re going to help you plan your date!”

Tonks beams: “Let’s get started, come on!”

With that, Tonks gives Shiri a push out of her chair and Charlie gives a pull on her arm to drag her out of the Three Broomsticks. Shiri barely manages a wave of goodbye to Bill before they were out on the streets of Hogsmeade.

“Why are we at Zonko’s? You think this would be a good idea for a date?” Shiri asks, nose crinkling as she looked around the store. It wasn’t her favourite place is Hogsmeade in the slightest. Tonks and Charlie look back at her.

“We’d rather know if you think Zonko’s is a good place for a first date?” Charlie asks.

She thinks about Rowan, glancing around Zonko’s again. Then she shakes her head.

“Definitely not.”

“We agree,” Tonks says with a nod.

“All it would take is one mishandled dungbomb to make the date a literal stinker,” Charlie adds on.

“If neither of you think this is a good date spot, why did you bring me here?”

“To brighten your mood and settle your nerves.”

A beat. “I don’t like pranks, Tonks.”

Tonks rolls her eyes. “Fine. Then we’ll be quick. I’ll grab some frog spawn soap and we’ll get on with it.”

Tonks tucks her buy away and they step back outside. Shiri looks at them, curiosity in her eyes.

“Why do you two want to help me plan my date anyway? Is this some kind of ploy to find out who my crush is?”

“We don’t care who your crush is.” Charlie replies. Shiri’s head tilts in confusion.

“All of our other friends want to know.”

“Dragons are all I care about. Who has time for dating when there are so many breeds to dragons to study?”

“And you, Tonks?”

“Dating doesn’t interest me. Not right now, at least. Perhaps someday. But I like doing my own thing for now.” Tonks grins, “It makes us the best people to help you plan because we’re not interested in dating, we can give you unbiased opinions.”

“So you don’t care about dating...”

“But we care about you, Shiri,” Charlie says. Tonks links her arms with Charlie and Shiri’s.

“Enough chat, you two, let’s start scoping out somewhere for you to take your crush on a date.”

It takes a little while, but they’re walking down a small street when Tonks pulls them to a stop. Then she jabs a finger towards a little shop.

“Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop,” Shiri reads off the sign.

“Let’s go inside,” Tonks says, not even giving them a chance to respond before she was pulling them inside.

It was a cramped shop with a few tables covered with candles and floral table cloths. There was a few shelves with fine, delicate china on display and a table fancy teacups and plates in a precarious pyramid.

“Tonks, we don’t even know if it’s open,” Charlie says, his voice echoing around the little teahouse.

“Well the door was open, wasn’t it?” Tonks answers.

“What is this place?” Shiri asks, looking around, though worried about knocking anything over.

“A fine first date place if I ever saw one.”

“I agree. I could imagine going on a first date here.”

Before anyone can say anything else, a stout brunette woman walks from the back of the shop and smiles warmly at them.

“We’re not quite open yet, m’dears. All three of you, I s’ppose? Party of two is the usual, but we’ll squeeze you all in.”

“Parties of two! See Shiri, this would be a great date place,” Tonks says proudly.

A whistling comes from the back of the shop and Madam Puddifoot makes a sound.

“Oh, I’ve got some chamomile on the stove. I’ll be back in a jiffy, m’dears.”

As she leaves, Tonks turns back to the rest of the trio. “Well, let’s explore then.”

“Explore what? I don’t think there’s much else to see,” Shiri says.

“Plus that tower of teacups over there is just begging to be toppled by...” Charlie gives Tonks a pointed looks, “Anyone who might be prone to toppling things.”

“I can explore without toppling things, Charlie Weasley!”

“How’s about a spot of tea?” Madam Puddifoot asks as she comes back out.

“Not today, I think. We were just passing through. Another time though,” Shiri says politely.

“Definitely another time!” Tonks cheers, throwing her arms up and almost knocking over the tower of teacups at her side. Shiri winces and Charlie tells her to be ‘careful!’. Before Tonks can manage to actually knock over the teacup tower, Shiri hurries her and Charlie from the tea shop.

“Well now that the date is planned, I suppose I need to actually ask out my crush now.” The mere thought made Shiri’s stomach start twisting all over again. She didn’t have time to consider Rowan’s new no-dating idea before Charlie was speaking up.

“Bill said you shouldn’t ask until all the details are planned.”

“What am I forgetting?”

“Well, what are you going to wear?” Tonks asks. A smile grows on Shiri’s face.

“I know just the person to help me with that.”

Squeezing Charlie and Tonks into a tight hug, she thanks them for their help before turning on her heel. She needed to pay Hogwarts’ local style wizard a visit.

Quidditch wasn’t her sport, much like flying wasn’t her class. Put her in a duel or charms class and she was fine, but she wasn’t here. Quidditch had been Ezra’s thing. She knew enough to keep her head above water with her more quidditch-loving friends and to go along to their matches. She sits herself on the edge of the training grounds, throwing sticks and petting Fang as she waits. Finally, practice is over and Shiri leaps to her feet, walking over to Andre as he finishes packing up with the rest of the Ravenclaw team. She helps as best she can, putting away brooms and dodging quaffles.

“So, Shiri, how’s it been going with the ... situation?” He asks as she passes over a couple of brooms.

“Well, actually, I’ve been planning a date.”

“So you asked your crush out there?” An excited look gross on his face. Shiri shifts nervously.

“Not exactly. Not yet, I mean.” At the confused look on his face, she continues, “I’m going with a ‘plan first, ask later’ type of deal.”

“Well that’s ... interesting?”

“So, I’ve planned a location but I was wondering if I could book an appointment of sorts with Andre Egwu: Style Wizard?” She says hopefully. Andre just laughs.

“Is that so?”

“Well you did such a great job styling me for the Celestial Ball and I want to make a good impression on my first date.”

“It’d be an honour to style you again, Shiri.”

Shiri chuckles: “An honour? That’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

“No, I mean it. Even the stylish have their off days, and I don’t want to let you down. It means a lot to me that you’d ask for my help.”

“It means a lot that you’re agreeing to help me.”

“Well, first date outfits. You say you picked a location?”

“Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop.”

“Well set the scene for me, Shiri.”

“It’s ... cosy and pink and decorative. There’s an unreasonable amount of teacups and cake.”

Andre hums: “That helps a bit, but what about you? What could you see yourself wearing on your first date?”

That makes Shiri pause. She hadn’t considered what she’d like to be wearing, she didn’t even know what dating style she should go for. This wasn’t the Celestial Ball, she wouldn’t look right wearing a long flowery gown like she had that night.

“I’d like to dress for the venue, I guess?” She finally replies.

“Style a tea shop worthy look. A challenge, but one I’ll happily accept. However, you know what would help me more?”

“What?”

“Knowing who your crush is?” He asks with a laugh. “In quidditch and in style, you have to play your audience.”

Shiri forces a smile: “You’ll find out if they say yes. I’ll meet you later, yeah?”

Throwing a wave over her shoulder, she drew in a deep breath as she walked away. It was now or never, at east for this part of the plan.

She paces up and down the aisle of the library, waiting for Penny to arrive. The blonde peaks around the aisle and she came down to Shiri’s side. Her brow quirks in confusion, glancing around their surrounding.

“Is this one of your hiding spots? Or Talbott’s?” Penny asks.

Shiri blinks in surprise: “You talked me out of hiding, remember?” She shakes it off, “I just, I wanted somewhere to talk to you in private?”

“Shhhh!” Well, Pince was still around.

“Though I suppose we’ll have to talk softly.”

“This sounds serious. What’s going on?”

Shiri shifts from foot to foot, chewing the inside of her bottom lip. Now or never, right?

“I want to go on a practice date with you.” She says all in one breath. Penny looks at her, surprised first, then confused.

“Practice date?”

“I’ve never been on a date before and I don’t want to mess it up. I thought … maybe I’d be more comfortable if I got to practice first.”

“When you ask Rowan, you mean?”

Shiri gapes: “Yo-You know?” Penny just laughs. Unfortunately, it was a bad move as Pince gets up and marches over to them.

“I’ve had to shush you enough for one day, so I’m separating you two.”

“What? Now?!”

“That exact tone is the reason, Miss Sibylline. You can settle down while you shelve books for me. Separately. Starting now.” Pince ushers Penny into one aisle and Shiri into another. Shiri sighs irritably, picking up a stack of books to start shelving.

After about ten minutes, she hears a noise. Like a hiss almost.

“Psst … Shiri.”

Glancing around, she notes how the sound seems to be coming from the next aisle and she shoves a few books aside and ends up face-to-face with Penny.

“I’d like to help you, I’ll be your practice date,” she says.

“Really?” Shiri says, almost slipping and letting her voice raise.

“Of course,” her grin widens, “So … where are you taking me?”

“Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. Tomorrow evening?”

“A tea shop? It sounds cute.”

“It is. Very frilly. And rather perfect for a date.”

“Fantastic. Tomorrow night then.”

“Tomorrow night then,” she echoes with a smile.

She had classes all day and she spent the whole day nervous, Penny had agreed to go along with her little plan, but that didn’t change the fact that she was going on a date. She still had to get an outfit in order. In herbology class, she’s distracted.

Rowan seems to catch onto it, but she doesn’t say anything. She glances between Shiri and back to the plant in front of her. She pushes the soil and fertiliser around the pot, then bit her lip as she looks towards Sprout to make sure she wasn’t going to catch them not working.

“I … heard you were going on a date with Penny,” Rowan says finally. She doesn’t look at Shiri not, just stares down at the leaves of the plant. Shiri’s head whipped up, staring like a deer in headlights.

“I - Rowan, it’s not —“

“I think that’s great. Penny’s great. It’s all just … great.” Rowan cuts her off and jabs the soil with her trowel. There’s a slight shake in her voice though and she takes a breath.

“Rowan, just let me explain, I —“

“You’ve all done wonderfully, class dismissed!” Professor Sprout speaks before Shiri can finish, momentarily drawing her attention from her friend. Rowan’s packs up her stuff and hurriedly leaves the greenhouse when Shiri turns back to her. Shiri scrambles to pick up her own books and wand.

She tries to hurry after Rowan but gets flagged down by Andre. He catches her walking out of class and passed the library and drags her into the transfigurations classroom, apparently leant to him by McGonagall again. He makes a wide motion with his hands to three sets of outfits. A green dress with a high buttons collar; a purple swishy dress with a silvery belt; and a red cardigan wrapped around a black dress. Each are gorgeous, but all she can think of is the shake in Rowan’s voice and how quickly she’d run off.

“Go on then, try something on.”

Shiri forces a smile and a nod and tried each on, twisting side to side. She did quite like the purple one, it twirled nicely. Yet, she couldn’t resist the red. Stepping out from behind the screen, she makes a small twirl again in the dress.

“I think this is the one.”

“Good choice. So you’ve asked out your crush then?” He ask.

“Well … not exactly.”

His brow raises.

“I asked out Penny. For a practice date.”

“A … ‘practice date’?”

“I was too nervous to ask out my crush, I thought, maybe a practice date with Penny would make me less nervous.”

Andre chuckles: “Fair enough, but I’m not quite finished styling you yet.”

“What else is there?”

With a flick of his wand, a small rose appears in his hand and he pushes her hair back from her face and pins the rose in it.

“And I’d like to try something else. You always look quite sharp without it, but I was wondering if you’d like to try make-up?”

“Sure … but I don’t see any cosmetics here.”

“But you do see a style wizard here.” He lifts his wand again, giving it a twirl towards her face. He looks at her, then turns to pick up a mirror. “Well, what do you think?”

Her lips are painted a dark scarlet, there’s also a simple smokey eye look, and delicate pretty blush over her cheeks. It isn’t the first time she’s tried make-up, she’d often times played dress up with her older sister, cousin, and her grandmother.

“It’s great, Andre, thank you.”

Andre beams: “You’re welcome. Now hurry on or you’re going to be late for your da- practice date.”

The pair walk arm-and-arm down Hogsmeade’s streets, dressed up and almost unrecognisable. Shiri wore her red wrapped cardigan and black dress, her hair was loose curls, pinned back by a rose over her left ear. Penny had braided her hair back into one large plait, shorter pieces curled prettily around her face. She wore a pretty yellow wrap skirt and a black shirt, a gold necklace hanging around her neck. They step up to Madam Puddifoot’s and Shiri holds open the door for her.

“So … this is the place?” Penny starts, “It’s very … flowery.”

“That’s good, right?” Shiri asks nervously.

“Of course, flowers are like smiles that pop out of the ground. Flowers are lovely.”

Shiri looks around. Well, the flowers are nice. Her gaze falls back on Penny.

“You look very smart tonight, by the way. Though you really always do.”

“Starting the date with a compliment is a good move. Even a fake date like this.” Penny grins. “And you look very nice as well.”

“Thank you,” Shiri replies, giggling lightly. She gave a small nod towards a nearby table, taking a seat there across from Penny. Madam Puddifoot soon comes to their table.

“What can I get for you, m’dears?” She asks. Shiri fumbles.

“Oh. Um. Tea? We’ll have tea. And - uh - nothing to spillable?”

“Tea you can’t spill, you say …” There’s a glint of amusement in Madam Puddifoot’s eyes. “I’ll brew you something up, be back in a jiffy.”

Shiri turns back to Penny as Madam Puddifoot walks off again.

“So … uhh … what would you like to talk about?”

“I’ll talk about anything!” Penny replies.

“So then we can talk about anything at all.”

“Brilliant, let’s talk then.”

“Now you’re talking!”

They both fall quiet, staring at each other, then away from each other, then back to each other.

“We’ve talked plenty before.”

“Yes. Plenty.”

“We always talk about potions. Or, well, I always talk about potions. Do I often talk about potions with you?”

“How often is often?”

“Well it’s different for everyone.”

“Have we talked about curse-breaking?”

“Your curse-breaking? Or curse-breaking in general?”

“Now I’m not sure …”

“We have definitely talked about … things. Many things, even.”

“Yes, exactly! We’re quite good at talking.”

“The best!”

Silence. Again. Shiri and Penny both bring in deep breaths. Shiri twists a teensy fork in her hand awkwardly.

“Madam Puddifoot’s taking a rather long time. I got a bit flustered, but I did order tea, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you ordered unspillable tea. I’ve never had it before.”

“Oh no, should I not have ordered for you? Oh Penny, I wasn’t even thinking …” she shook her head, “You see, Tonks worried me about spilling tea and I’ve gone and botched things, haven’t I?”

“Not at all, Shiri. I can’t wait to see what unspillable tea tastes like.”

“You’re only saying that to be kind to me.”

“I’m saying it because we’re friends … and because you’re stressing yourself out. Take a deep breath, won’t you?”

Shiri nods, drawing a breath and letting it out. When she reopens her eyes, she sees two familiar faces over Penny’s shoulder.

“Tonks and Charlie!”

“What?” Penny says.

“Tonks and Charlie, they’re - uhh - they’re here.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with us.”

“Well … nothing, I suppose. I was just surprised. Shall we just ignore them then and continue on with our practice date?”

“I think so.”

Shiri nods, feeling the silence draw back in again, worse now with Tonks and Charlie watching the pair.

“This is my first kinda-date too, you know?”

“What? But you must be asked out all the time.”

“I am, but I’ve never said yes to anyone. Until now. You were right about a ‘practice date’ so you wouldn’t be nervous on a real date and I thought this would be good for me too.” Penny pauses a moment and tilts her head to the side, “Are you okay? You seem nervous, it’s not just the date is it?”

Shiri sighs for the upteenth time in two days.

“Rowan found out I was going on this date with you.”

“Oh.”

“And she wouldn’t let me explain. And then she was running off after class and Andre caught me to try on outfits and I just … I can’t stop thinking about it. What if I made a mistake with this practice date? Should I have just asked her instead?”

“Yes!” Tonks suddenly cries from the table behind Penny. The practice-date pair jump in surprise. As she shouted, she’d leapt up from her seat, but in doing so had knocked her chair back into the tower of teacups. There was a cacophony of shattering teacups spilling to the ground, breaking the peaceful quiet of the tea shop.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Madam Puddifoot cries as she hurried back out from the back room.

“Oops?” Tonks replies quietly, an apologetic look on her face.

“Care m’dears, don’t step on any glass on your way out.”

“Way out?” Shiri asks.

“I’ve got to close up the shop to sweep up. Hurry along now, dears, back to Hogwarts with you.”

“I guess this is the end of our date, Shiri,” Penny says, getting up from her seat, careful to avoid a few shards of tea cup that had fallen near her.

“I guess so,” Shiri replies, letting out a small breath.

“I’m sorry. To both of you,” Tonks says as they all step outside. “But! You really should have just asked Rowan, Shiri!”

“Maybe you should be glad you didn’t, considering how this date went,” Charlie adds in and both Tonks and Shiri deflate.

She can’t bear to see Rowan just yet, so instead of going back to the common room, she finds herself walking around the school halls. Her bangles clink on her wrist and her curls seem less bouncy. She’s walking down a corridor when she’s stopped by Hagrid.

“What’s wrong? You’re looking quite gloomy, Shiri. I thought yeh were off on your first date.” There’s concern in his voice and she just breaks, her nose crinkling as she tries to keep back tears.

“Oh it’s all gone wrong, Hagrid. I went on a practice date with Penny and Rowan found out and I think she thinks Penny is my crush, but she isn’t because Rowan is. And then Tonks broke a bunch of teacups at Madam Puddifoot’s and we had to leave early and it’s all - it’s all gone wrong!” She says, voice shaking, on the edge of sobbing. “What do you think I should do, Hagrid?”

“Yeh think I’ll know what teh do?”

“Yes. Talking to you always seems to help.”

Hagrid pauses a moment, hums: “Well What went wrong on this practice date, o’ yours?”

“Well we couldn’t find anything to talk about. And there was the part where I made a ridiculous order of ‘unspillable’ tea that never came. Tonks and Charlie showing up and then Tonks breaking all those cups certainly wasn’t good either.”

“Oh dear.”

“That’s what Madam Puddifoot said, except it was more like,” she puts on her best impression of the tea shop’s owner’s shrill voice, “‘oh dear, oh dear!’”

“I’m sorry, Shiri.”

“And it was so awkward coming back. Tonks kept trying to give me advice about asking out Rowan,” She shoves a hand against her cheek, forgetting she had blush there. “What should I do, Hagrid? I do really like Rowan, but …”

“Perhaps she feels the same way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well yeh won’t know if you don’t ask.”

“But after such a rotten outing, I don’t think I’d be a good date at all. I don’t want Rowan to have a bad time.”

“Everyone has bad dates at one point or another, Shiri,” Hagrid says with a chuckle. He puts a hand on her shoulder, “I think I saw Rowan heading out to the courtyard, perhaps you ought’a go talk to her. Tell her how you feel.”

Shiri smiles up at him and nods.

“Thank you, Hagrid.”

Night has long since fallen as Shiri steps out into the courtyard. The moon is high in the sky and the only thing that lights up the courtyard. Shiri glances around, trying to catch sight of Rowan, hoping she hadn’t gone back to the common room yet. This wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with all her housemates around. Finally, she catches sight of someone sitting on the other side of the fountain. She straightens out her skirt, bumps up her curls a little to get some life back into them, then walks to the fountain.

She takes a seat next to Rowan, a few feet between them.

“Hey,” she starts awkwardly. Rowan looks at her, surprised.

“Hey,” she echoes back.

Then they fall into silence. Then they speak at the same time.

“So how’s everything going?”

“How was your date?”

Silence again.

“It wasn’t a real date. It was just practice. I didn’t want to ask my crush out and have it be awkward, but I realise how stupid that seem and that I should have just asked —“

“Wait! Is that a shooting star?” Rowan says, cutting Shiri off and pointing up at the sky. Shiri’s head turns upward, brows creasing.

“I … don’t see anything, Ro.”

“Then let’s just keep looking. I’m sure there’ll be more.”

“Rowan, I just wanted to say —“

“I don’t want you to miss out on a shooting star, Shiri! We can talk later.”

“We do need to talk.”

“About stargazing? What do you think about it?” Rowan still hadn’t looked at Shiri yet.

“Wha— Well, I guess I think … it’s romantic?”

“Then we should keep stargazing. In silence.”

“I didn’t come out here to just stargaze in silence with you.”

Rowan finally sighs, looking down at her lap where she was picking at her uniform skirt. “There was no shooting star, I’ve … been stalling.”

“Stalling?”

“I feel like you’re going to tell me who your crush is and I … I’m worried about who it’s going to be. Because I really like you, Shiri, and I don’t want to hear about your crush on someone else.”

Shiri almost laughs: “Someone else? There isn’t someone else.”

“Your crush is Penny then?” Rowan deflates. Shiri quickly shakes her head, shuffling closer to her.

“My crush is you. It’s been you for years. You can’t imagine how excited I was when you agreed to go the Celestial Ball with me.” Shiri suddenly smiles, “I guess we’ve had a first date after all, perhaps we could have a second. Tonight.”

“Tonight? But it’s so late. I bet Hogsmeade is already closed for the night.”

“Maybe. But maybe our second date is written in the stars?” She cocks a brow with a small smile and Rowan laughs.

“I think I’d like that.”

With that, they both lean back and look up to the sky. For a moment, Shiri glances at Rowan, then down to her hand. She shuffles slightly closer to Rowan. In turn, Rowan shuffles closer to Shiri. Their hands creep closer to each other and, soon, their fingers intertwine. Smiles grows on both their face. A shooting star flies across the sky.


End file.
